I'm always curious when people such as the BRU pit themselves against better mid and long range transit. What seems missed in the arguments over bus and rail is the network is the reasons for each mode. Just like the circulatory system in your body, you wouldn't ask capillaries to do the long distance blood moving that your veins do.
But another interesting development is the recent skyrocket in rail ridership and slightly lower bus ridership increases in Los Angeles. The Gold Line in particular is moving up, taking a 39% increase over the same time last year, with all rail up 20%. But the Orange Line and the LA Bus system were up 8% and 6% respectively. Not that 75,000 new riders is anything to to sneeze at on the bus tip, but with only 4 lines, rail ridership increased 53,236 total riders. That is a lot of capacity on four corridors that just got soaked up. Imagine if there were more rail corridors and more possible network connections.
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What these numbers show is that the Orange Line has basically reached capacity, while the Gold Line still has room to grow, although allegedly, the Gold Line's capacity is limited by the power and signal systems.
You're right on the Orange line. That was starting to come forward with last months numbers. 27,000 is not the ceiling for the Gold line though. I think what would hold it back if it got to the 40,000 range is the speed issue. Some of those neighborhoods have restricted its speed, making it hard to get trains downtown and back faster.
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